


Mission Accomplished

by Noenie



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, Avengers on mission, Badly, Best Friends, Bucky is one of the Avengers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Inspired by Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Kissing, Light Angst, Love Confession, M/M, Making Out, Manhandling, No Further Spoilers, Post-Captain America: The First Avenger, Protective Bucky Barnes, Recovery, SHIELD, Sassy Tony Stark, Serious Injuries, Stucky - Freeform, bucky takes care of him, dangerous mission, mission, steve gets hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 15:41:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16066199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noenie/pseuds/Noenie
Summary: The Avengers are on a mission in Romania when Steve gets hurt, badly. And when Bucky finds his best friend dying, he realizes he should have told Steve how he felt about him a lot earlier, because it might be too late.Turns out it wasn't, and Bucky was not the only one with secrets, Steve had many things to tell Bucky too.Or: the fic where both men give in to their feelings for each other, and end up being happier than ever.





	Mission Accomplished

**Author's Note:**

> Hey ya guys,
> 
> I'm back! This time with a stucky fic ☺. I want to start off with a disclaimer: this fic is written as if it happens in the Marvel Universe, but some things might not be exactly like in the movies.
> 
> Again, I want to thank my beta [ @fluffysax ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FluffySax/pseuds/FluffySax), thanks for helping me out sis! (Also, go check out her first fic (malec) - she uploads a chapter every two weeks, and it's great. Seriously, it's awesome)
> 
> I am thinking about making a series out of this, so let me know if you'd like me to do that. Also, feel free to leave a comment behind for other reasons, it would mean a lot to me ☺.
> 
> That was it for now, enjoy!
> 
> ps. I've got a tumblr now: [ @realnoenie ](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/realnoenie)

“STEVE!” Bucky shouted as he ran through the hallways of the abandoned airport. The Avengers were on a double mission in Europe, saving Ant-man as well as looking for clues to find Zola. They knew they were entering a Hydra base, but were taken by surprise nonetheless. There were a lot more Hydra agents than they had estimated in their post mission briefing. It turned out this was not just a Hydra base; this was _the_ Hydra base. This was where Zola was doing his experiments, and looking at the amount of soldiers, he was home.

_“Shit, Steve, they’re everywhere!” Romanov shouted, the tiniest tremble in her usually so steady voice suggesting she, too, knew they were in trouble._

_“I know, Nat. I’d say we split up and still try to stop Zola from taking off on that plane. Now that we know he’s here, we shouldn’t let him get away. Clint, you go to the south wing, accompanied by Romanov. Make sure you are a distraction for the soldiers; take their attention away from our task at hand.” The agents nodded in agreement as Steve continued with nothing but determination in his words._   _“Banner, Thor, same counts for you, but you will be situated in the east wing._

_“Yes, captain.”_

_“Barnes and Tony, you’ll be covering the exits towards the airstrip. Make sure Zola does_ not _get on that plane.”_

_“Copy that,” Tony answered._

_“And Barnes, you okay?” Steve asked in a completely different tone than his previous questions. His voice was soft, sweet and unrushed, as if he’d paused the mission for a minute to ask Bucky on his current state._

_“Yeah, I’m fine,” Bucky muttered as he looked at the ground. Steve knew better than to believe him - Bucky was never fine when it came to Hydra - but unfortunately there was no time to soothe him, so Steve continued._

_“Good, then I’ll go down to the basement to try and find Scott. Everyone clear?”_

_As Steve looked around and got his answer by the small nods from his team members, he gave his team a sign they knew meant to get into position. Steve started running towards his position too, but not before he took a quick glance at his best friend, who looked more concerned than Steve had ever seen him before. He knew Bucky never liked it when Steve was alone during a mission, but he had no other choice at the moment. They needed to act quickly before they were spotted and trapped by soldiers. It was absolutely crucial that Zola wouldn’t take off on that plane, bringing the cure to his self-made fatal disease with him._

_Steve trusted his team members to complete that job, while he had his own one to do. On the previous mission, agent Lang was captured by Zola’s agents and taken hostage. When they tracked down his GPS location via the serum that was added to his blood, it didn’t take long for the Avengers to get ready for a trip to Europe._

 

“Steve!” Bucky was out of breath, he had run down the entire building, but hadn’t received any signs of Steve’s presence. Scott was taken care of by Romanov, he was in good health, but he hadn’t seen Steve. And the serum that helped finding Scott didn’t work on Steve, as his body broke it down immediately as a result of his enhanced immune system. Bucky was stressing out big time, he couldn’t lose his best friend. And he wouldn’t, so he continued running, opening endless amounts of doors to the million rooms in the airport, and opened yet another one when he came to an abrupt stop.

Steve was there, laying in the corner of the room, eyes closed, his suit drowned in blood. His skin was pale, _deathly_ pale. Bucky scanned the area for any soldiers, one hand reaching for his gun, even though he knew they had all been taken out by his colleagues and himself minutes ago. They had arrested Zola and most of his soldiers. The ones they hadn’t captured were long gone, as they would have stood no chance with their highly reduced numbers.

As Bucky approached the still man, waves of shock were sent though his body, drowning him in a flood of utter distress and worry. Steve looked terrible, and that was a strong understatement. From what Bucky was able to see, they (whoever they had been – he would get back at them, and they would feel a lot more pain than Steve was feeling, that was certain) had severely beaten him up, countless bruises already forming on the limited amount of exposed skin, several cuts of various depths on his face and arms. Bucky could only imagine what Steve looked like under his suit. _God dammit Steve, why do you_ always _have to run off on your own? Can’t you think of yourself for once, instead of taking care of others?_

When Bucky carefully but hurriedly shuffled closer to the limp and injured body of his best friend, he went for his pulse immediately. It was weak, way too weak for a super soldier. And a male like Steve – one enhanced with the serum – was not supposed to let out breaths that short and unsteady. Steve needed to get treated, _now_.

“Hill, do you copy?”

“Yes Barnes, go for it.”

“I found Steve. He’s severely injured. We need Helen ready for surgery the second we land at HQ. Can you inform the others we need to leave immediately while I take Steve to the quinjet and start treatment?”

“Understood. Dr. Cho is already preparing as we speak. Take care of him, Barnes.”

Bucky carefully picked up Steve, holding the slack body in his arms, and started running, again.

“You ain’t dying on me, pal. Not today,” he whispered softly against the air that hit him hard in his face while he ran. Bucky was strong – a combination of the serum and his disciplined work out planning -  but carrying the dead weight of his even stronger and heavier friend required the amount of energy he no longer had after all the physical exercise of the day. He kept running nonetheless, until the rough outline of the aircraft appeared in the distance.

When he was spotted by his co-Avengers, Tony quickly came to his aid, flying towards the two men. He took Steve from Bucky and raced towards the quinjet while Bucky followed suit on the ground.

_Steve had made his way down to the basement, which would be the place where Hydra had most likely locked Scott. And by the amount of soldiers Steve spotted, he was right. Hydra had clearly anticipated on a possible attack to free Scott. Steve scanned the area and concluded that there were four soldiers in the hallway, three in front of the door that led towards the room where Scott had to be, and probably a ton more soldiers inside of that room. But he could manage. He hoped._

_The first ones were easy. A smoke bomb got them distracted and Steve could take them out without any trouble. A swing with his shield had been enough. The fourth one was a bigger pain in the ass, as she pulled out a Taser and started pointing it in Steve’s direction. Yet again, Steve was infinitely grateful for the protection of his shield when it blocked the electric shocks. Steve ran towards the agent, and tackled her while firing at the other approaching soldiers. The smoke had almost faded, so he was clearly visible to the ones he still had to fight._

_The woman was attacking Steve viciously and it didn’t seem like she would give in easily. She hit Steve on the nose, followed by a knee into his ribs._

_“For ducks sake!” Steve grunted, but quickly pulled himself together and kicked backwards to stop the sixth agent from taking him down, while he shot a tranquilizer dart into the neck of the female soldier. That would take her out for a few hours._

_Looking around, there were three more agents. Steve was very grateful for the rush of adrenaline that was somewhat blocking the pain of his probably broken nose and ribs, as he fluently moved around the hallway and took down two more of the enemy._

_One more to go._

_It was the biggest guy, but also the dumbest it turned out. Lesson one: never attack Captain America with a knife - he knows how to deal with that shit,  he’s had quite some training, okay? It only took Steve a second or two to make himself the owner of the cutting device and place it inside the man’s ribcage. Last agent down. Mission accomplished. Or at least, partly._

 

“Jarvis, execute a medical scan.” There was a shiver in Tony’s voice as he spoke the words. The mission might be accomplished, but that satisfied feeling was highly oppressed by the concern about Steve’s physical state.

“Steven Grant Rogers, also known as Cap-“

“Yeah, we know who he is Jarvis,” Tony interrupted. “Please hurry and tell us what we can do.”

“Of course Mr. Stark. Steve has three fractured ribs, a fractured nose, a collapsed lung and severe blood loss as a result of two bullets in his chest. His blood type is AB and he is rhesus negative. He will need one and a half litres of blood, at least. You should also attach the defibrillator in case he goes into cardiac arrest. That is all you can do, sir.”

“Thanks, Jarvis,” Tony muttered as he started looking for blood and a defibrillator. “He’ll be just fine guys, we’re talking about Steve fucking Rogers here,” he added, even though the doubt was audible in his voice.

Bucky smiled at Tony’s comment, but there was no sense of joy in it. Steve was dying, and they would only arrive in, Bucky looked at the GPS system, seventeen more minutes. Steve couldn’t die, Bucky still had so much to tell him. Steve wasn’t just his best friend, but also his first, and never-ending crush. Even before his transformation, Bucky had considered Steve to not only be the most loving person in the world, but also extremely hot. But Bucky had never dared to tell him. And now he’s Captain fucking America, and he doesn’t have time for talks anymore – if he survives. At least, that’s what Bucky tells himself. There have been enough possibilities to tell him; speak the truth about his feelings for Steve – the undeniable crush, and the way the latter had Bucky swooning over everything he did - and his general interest in men. He could have told him, and yet he hadn’t. He hadn’t dared to. He would never forgive himself if opening up would ruin the strongest bond he’s ever had with anyone. If living like this – living a lie – meant he would keep Steve, even if it was not in the way he wanted most, it was worth it.

_Steve snatched a card from one of the knocked-out guards, and held it against the scanner next to the door. He carefully opened the door with one hand, holding his shield in the other. His eyes widened._

_The room was empty. There was_ literally _nothing. No old fashioned Soviet Technology, no rusty chairs or tables with straps to get the strong prisoners under control, no people; nothing._

_Steve hadn’t known what to expect when he’d cracked the door open. He would have been fine if he’d found a whole array of people arranged in the small room, ready to fight the super soldier with their weapons and poor fighting skills. He would have been fine if it would have been Zola himself; Steve could – and would – have taken the man down without struggle. He would have been fine if he could have done what he was best at; fight and win. But there was no one to attack, no one to take down and move out his way. There was no one there, no soldiers and therefor no Scott._

_Steve looked around and put two and two together. The large amount of soldiers in the hallway, in front of this exact room; the position of the room itself – all the way down in the basement, at the end of the hallway. The poorly trained soldiers that had been too easy to take down, even for Hydra. Steve had gone down this way because it had been a logical place to put away an Avenger, and it was. But Hydra never intended to put away Scott in this room, they wanted to lock up Steve. And he’d guided himself right to it, he had walked right into the trap and he should have known. Of course Hydra wouldn’t give in so easily. They had expected someone to come and look for Scott, and they weren’t stupid enough to leave that exact person behind the door where you’d most expect him to be. Scott was of too much value to let go of him that easily._

_Consumed in his thoughts, Steve didn’t notice the man standing up behind him. Agonizing pain was sent through his chest once. Twice._

_The only thing Steve noticed from the moments after the blasts, was that he was pulled up into strong, but careless arms, that carried him away from the basement, and planted him somewhere else. He needed to alarm the Avengers, he needed to contact  Hill, and talk to Bucky. There were things he should have said._

_But he was too late._

_His eyes closed as he mumbled some words. “I love you Buck, make it till the end of the line, for me.”_

***

 

Steve was disoriented when he opened his eyes, and quickly shut them again as the light was way too bright. He was in a white room, radio playing softly in the background and there was someone sitting next to his… bed? Hospital bed, right. Slowly, his memory came back. Mission, Romania, shot, dying. Or at least that is what he thought he was doing. Yeah, Steve was pretty sure he’d basically died just then.

“Steve, can you hear me?” Steve’s eyes shot open at the sound of the male’s voice. Bucky’s voice.

“Oh my god, Steve, don’t you dare scare me like that ever again.” Bucky’s eyes were surrounded by dark circles and red-stained from tears. He had cried. And don’t ask Steve why, but his first reaction was to move his hand and cup Bucky’s face with it, wiping away the tears on his cheek. Seeing the surprised expression on his friend’s face, and realizing that that move was probably inappropriate, even for two friends that had been friends for decades, Steve quickly retreated his hand and looked down at the sheets.

“I thought you were gonna die,” Bucky said with a cracked voice.

Steve was happy that Bucky continued as if nothing had happened, and responded with a gentle smile on his face. “Me too, Buck. Guess the world wasn’t ready to lose Captain America just yet.”

“Neither was I,” Bucky mumbled.

“Hey, I’m here now. Is everyone else fine?”

“Yeah, Nat found Scott somewhere in a room, and except for some bruises and cuts, he’s unharmed. The rest of the team is good too, I guess.”

“And how are you? You’re looking like a walking corps, to be honest. How long have you been sitting here?”

“Four days.” Bucky looked down at the ground as if he was ashamed of his answer.

“What?!” Now Steve was the one taken by surprise. “Have you slept at all?”

“Not really. Didn’t want to and couldn’t, so I guess I have just kind of been sitting here, waiting for you to wake up. You were in a really bad state, Steve. And I looked everywhere, but you were nowhere, and-“

“Bucky?”

“Yeah?” He looked up, concern and new tears in his eyes.

“I’m here now, Hydra is not. I am safe, you’re safe, and I’ll be just like the old me in a few weeks’ time. Now I suggest you go to your own quarters to get some sleep, because you need it.”

“But I still have to get Dr. Cho.”

“I’ll take care of that,” Steve interrupted. “There’s a phone in the room, if you’ll just hand that to me, I’ll manage. Now, I don’t want to see you in the next ten hours. And if I do, you’re in big trouble Mr. Barnes.”

A small grin appeared on Bucky’s red lips, as he saluted Steve slowly.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. See ya, Buck”

“See ya, Steve.” Bucky opened the door and walked out before glancing over his shoulder once more and smiling at Steve in satisfaction.

 

***

 

Bucky had had a really good sleep, and the bags under his eyes had partly disappeared when he had woken up that morning. The thought that Steve was going to be just fine, had been enough for Bucky to allow himself to finally get some rest.

And now he was walking towards the room where Steve was probably still sleeping, and couldn’t help but smile. First off, his buddy was getting better, Scott was back, Zola had been captured and the serum to save thousands, maybe even millions of lives was in the hands of the good guys. Life was pretty good.

But it could be even better, because when Bucky entered the medical room, he was met with the most beautiful smile, belonging to the most beautiful man alive.

“Mornin’ Buck.”

“Morning Steve, morning Tony.” Bucky nodded to the older men sitting on the side of Steve’s bed.

Tony nodded back, and spoke up. “You’ve got good timing, Barnes. Steve is just about to get transferred to his apartment, so if you don’t mind helping out.”

“No, of course I don’t,” Bucky answered, quickly making his way to the bed to support Steve as he was already standing up. “Easy Steve. You were literary shot in the chest _twice_ five days ago, so don’t think you can just hop out of bed without any difficulty.”

“Well, I feel fine, so I actually _can_ just hop out of bed,” Steve protested. “Cho has also said that, as long as it doesn’t hurt, it is okay for me to walk around.”

“No, that’s not what she said, Steve,” Tony corrected him. “She said, that if the pain was fading, you were allowed to maybe walk your way to the couch or the kitchen when necessary, but she was definitely _not_ talking about you just having a nice walk around the building. I am seriously thinking about hiring a babysitter to look after you the upcoming weeks to make sure you don’t hurt yourself any worse.”

“Hey! That’s not fair!” Steve snapped back. “Just because I got shot once – yeah, I know it was twice, but it were, like two shots in one, like one action, one person. Oh whatever, you know what I mean,” he shrugged, hands frustratingly thrown into the air. “Anyway, that doesn’t mean that I’m incapable of looking after myself, my _friend_ ,” he said cynically.

“Good for you, Steve,” Tony deadpanned with a wide smile on his face, walking out of the room, only to return with a wheelchair pushed out in front of him seconds later.

Steve backed up out of protest, still balancing in Bucky’s tight grip. “Hell to the no, Mr. Stark, there is no way I’m getting into that!” Steve immediately protested.

“You kind of have to, Steve,” Bucky added to the conversation in a shy manner. “At least for now. Just get in, I’ll race you to your quarters and make sure no one will see you. Pinkie promise.”

“But I’m not handicapped, you all!” Steve said with a raised voice.

“I still want you to get in,” Bucky insisted as he signed for Tony to push the wheelchair behind the demonstrating man. Steve started an attempt for another protest, but was distracted by Bucky’s sudden, but controlled movement. Bucky stepped closer to Steve, right into his personal space (not that Steve minded. Nope, not at all) and pushed him backwards with gentle hands against Steve’s chest, forcing him to lower his body into the wheelchair. A small sigh escaped Steve’s mouth, but he realised there wasn’t much he could do, so he sat back and let Bucky push him out of the room.

 

As promised, Bucky had raced Steve to his quarters, avoiding any contact with other human beings in the building. The two men were now sitting on the couch, each sipping on a glass of apple juice.

“I’m bored Buck,” Steve started. “I want to move, run, go to the gym, go on missions. I can’t just sit here and do nothing, while you’re all out there doing the cool stuff.” There was a frustrated look on his face that Bucky understood all too well. He was just like Steve in the way they both wanted to make themselves useful, and could only imagine what Steve would feel like at the moment.

“I know Steve, but it’s better that – even with your spectacular body – you get some rest, you know. The more rest you take, the faster your recovery will be,” Bucky said with a comforting smile on his face. “Besides, we’re not gone all the time, I mean, I’m here now. We better make the best of that. If you want, we could watch a movie or something?”

A smile creeped up at the corner of Steve’s mouth. “Yeah, that’d be great.”

 

In the middle of the movie, that had become ‘Love, Simon’, Bucky stood up. It was their guilty pleasure to watch romantic comedies, it had been since the day they could afford to go to the movies for the first time – back in the thirties – and they’d gone to a romcom, because it had been the only one with tickets left. They had so far managed to keep it a secret; the other Avengers were convinced the two men watched tough action or horror movies. But _oh boy_ , they couldn’t be more wrong. Because Bucky and Steve wouldn’t have any of that. It wasn’t like they were ashamed of their movie preference, they just wanted to keep it a secret. Their secret. It took them back in time and recalled sweet memories of the old times. It was intimate and precious and they didn’t feel like sharing that with the rest of their friends; this was something they shared amongst the two of them.

“Hey, where are you going, buddy?” Steve asked, surprised when Bucky got up all of a sudden.

“I’m going to get some food, do you want something too?”

“Well, now that you’re asking, there’s still some pie in the fridge I got from Helen, we can share that one?”

“Sure thing.”

Two minutes later, Bucky returned from the kitchen, holding a strawberry pie and forks in one hand, while balancing two refilled glasses of apple juice in the other one. Steve started moving to help him out, but Bucky was too fast with a response.

“No Steve, you stay right there, I can manage,” Bucky said as he put the drinks and pie down on the coffee table in front of the couch. He plumped down on the sofa, considerably closer to Steve than he had been sitting before, but yet again, Steve couldn’t find a part of him that was not absolutely fine with it. _Damn Steve, denying this crush is getting harder each day._

 

What had started as one movie, turned into a morning and afternoon of binge-watching and playing games of cards. It was already dark when the end scene of ‘Deadpool 2’ started to show on the screen. Bucky looked on his phone and was surprised by the time it showed; 6:30 PM. _Wow, time really flies by when you’re having fun._

“You should eat something, Steve.”

“And so should you, Bucky,” Steve shot back.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Do you have anything in the fridge I can use to cook you dinner, or…?

Steve felt a blush forming on his cheek. “You’re willing to cook me dinner?”

Bucky’s eyes shot to the ground. “Too much?”

“Oh no, no, no!” Steve assured him, putting a hand on Bucky’s shoulder. “Actually, I would really appreciate it, but only if you join to eat it, because I’m not letting you cook and then leave. That’s not how this works, _Mr. Barnes_ ,” Steve said playfully, though completely meaning his words.

“Hmm, okay,” Bucky muttered as he already made his way to the kitchen, his back towards Steve to hide the wide grin that covered his entire face.

 

Cooking dinner had taken quite some time, and after Bucky had cleaned up the table and kitchen he noticed that Steve was exhausted. His eyes were getting smaller with every minute that passed by, and he wasn’t paying attention to the things Bucky was saying as much as he’d normally do. It was time for him to get to bed.

“Steve, you should get some sleep. You’ve had quite a long day, and you seem tired.”

And for once, Steve didn’t protest. Instead he nodded, and stood up to make his way to his bedroom. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Bucky felt that that would be an appropriate time to say goodnight, and to grant Steve some privacy, but Steve didn’t seem to agree with that.

“Buck? Weird question maybe, but would you mind helping me out with uhm… _undressing_ me?” Steve physically flinched at the word, embarrassment filling his body. He quickly continued. “I’m not that flexible at the moment, because – in case you hadn’t noticed already - I was shot in the chest _twice_. How stupid of me.”

Bucky giggled, and celebrated on the inside, which was totally wrong, because Steve just needed his aid. And Steve had almost certainly not meant for Bucky to feel excited about the situation, but Bucky couldn’t help it, he was really in love with his best friend. What a mess.

_Oh my god, his pecs. Damn, so muscular. James Buchanan Barnes, behave yourself!_ Bucky was enjoying the view, to say the least. It was totally wrong, but the feeling of fulfilment was completely consuming his mind at the moment, so he couldn’t care too much about how weird it must look to Steve. Of course Bucky had seen glimpses of Steve’s body, but he’d never had the privilege to look at it from so close by.

“Buck!” Bucky was pulled out of his daydream and was met with two twinkling eyes that belonged to the beautiful man in front of him. “You okay there?”

Bucky chuckled, Steve had no idea just how okay Bucky was. “Yeah, I’m good. You too?”

“Yeah, under the current circumstances. Thanks for helping out, it means a lot.”

Steve looked Bucky straight into his eyes during the last comment, and at that, Bucky’s stomach turned upside down. They were so genuine, and so full of… love? Maybe there was a possibility that Steve too felt more than friends with Bucky. _Oh come on, Barnes, don’t get your hopes up._

***

 

A week had passed, and Bucky had just returned from a mission in Mexico when he was walking towards Steve’s quarters. He hadn’t seen his friend in five days and wanted to check on him, see how he was holding up. Bucky knocked twice, but got no response.

He carefully opened the door. “Stevie, you here?“ And Bucky stopped right there, because that’s not how he had expected their encounter to be. Steve was sitting on the kitchen counter, in only his damn boxers, struggling to remove the dirty bandages and plasters from his upper body. He looked up quite shocked at the sudden appearance of his best friend in the doorway.

“Oh h-hi Buck, I was just, you know, cleaning myself up,” he said with a small voice.

When Bucky had picked himself up again, he quickly came into action, pacing towards Steve. “And you just thought, “let’s do that without anyone’s help, because I’m totally capable of doing that on my own even though I’ve got two _fucking_ bullet holes in my chest”.” The words came out of his mouth a little bit harsher than intended, but he didn’t like Steve not asking for any help, it worried him.

“First of all, language,” Steve said pedantically. “And sorry, but there was not really anyone around to help,” Steve apologized.

“It’s okay, I’m here now. Just know that there are always people that don’t mind helping you out, it’s okay to ask for help sometimes. You’re not just Captain America, you know. You’re also Steve Rogers, and he’s still a normal human being who needs some guidance once in a while,” Bucky said in his most gentle tone this time. “Now, lean back and let me help you fix this situation.”

Steve did as asked, and leaned on his hands that were placed behind his back. Bucky carefully removed the medical tape and bandages and looked at his chest. “Damn Steve, they got you bad, didn’t they?”

“Yeah, they did I guess,” Steve mumbled as Bucky continued cleaning up his wounds. Once Bucky had covered them with clean bandages, Steve spoke up again.

“Thanks for helping me out all the time, you’ve been really good to me.”

Bucky waved off the compliment while he busied himself with cleaning up the medical equipment. “Oh, it’s fine, that’s what friends are for, right?”

“No, it’s not,” Steve said, a rather serious tone to his voice. “You’ve been doing a lot more than friends do for each other, and I want to thank you for that.”

“Well again, it’s fine. Do you want something to drink too?” Bucky said as he made his way to the fridge, clearly avoiding the conversation. It was too confronting.

“Buck?”

“Yeah, Steve?”

“I love you.”

Bucky’s back stiffened. There were so many things he wanted to say right now. “ _I love you too, Steve, but not in the way_ you _meant it. I’m into men, and I’ve fallen hard, really hard for you. I have been into you since we were teenagers, before you crashed that plane and everything else that happened.”_ But he didn’t. Instead, he smiled at Steve and responded with a friendly, “Love you too, Steve.”

Steve shook his head, looking down at the ground. “You don’t understand, Buck. The moment I thought I was dying, I realised that there was so much I should have told you that I didn’t because I was weak, and scared. But I no longer want to hide my secrets. What I was trying to say, is that…I uhm” Steve doubted for a second. “I’m _in_ love with you.”

Bucky’s mouth dropped to the ground, and his eyes widened. It didn’t take long for him to change the surprised expression to one of utter happiness. He was smiling from ear to ear. And when Steve babbled on and on about apologies and that he couldn’t help it that he falls for men _and_ women, Bucky had had enough.

“Oh, shut up, you,” he said as he stepped closer to the counter, moving his way in between Steve’s legs. Bucky smacked his lips onto Steve’s, earning him a small and surprised moan from the man sitting in front of him. But Steve quickly picked up, and engaged in the kiss, as he draped his arms around Bucky’s neck. The kiss got more heated when Steve pressed his tongue against Bucky’s lips, asking him for permission to enter. And when Bucky opened up, Steve gladly moved his tongue in.

“Oh. Before. I forget to say. I – hmm – love… you that… way too, Stevie,” Bucky said in between kisses. He was glowing, partying, dancing on the inside. He had not expected this to happen, and now he was making out with his life-long crush, for real and not in his dreams. Bucky stopped thinking when Steve moved his hands underneath his shirt, leaving behind a trail of shivers.

“Hmm, Buck, can you take that off?”

That was all the encouragement Bucky needed to step back and take off his shirt in a seducing manner, earning him just another beautiful moan from Steve. Steve leaned forward to kiss Bucky yet another time when Bucky’s phone rang.

“I… uh, should probably pick that up. I think it’s about the debriefing,” Bucky said with a disappointed look on his face.

“That’s okay, Buck. Finish another time?”

“Finish another time.” Bucky walked out of the apartment, picking up his shirt and leaving behind a wide-grinning Steve.  

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading this one, let me know what you think of it!
> 
> Some stucky loving, because it's real:  
>  


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